Red Ardesch
The Socialist Republic of Ardesch, also known popularly by its opponents as "Red Ardesch" was a powerful empire on western Randros during the Sixteenth Age. Its capital was the city of Teranchir, where mountains of brick and concrete gave way to towers of glass and steel. Flag National Flag Its flag was a statement of its ruling party's ideology: * Red for war, the blood of its revolutionaries that overthrew the Third Director and established its government, and the working class; * The yellow or gold border for zeal and fervour in spreading its aggressive ideology against the sin of bigotry in its existence; * The ring symbolises reputation, the rays for progress, and together they resemble the shape of a lunar satellite, representing its expertise in science; * The hexagon represents its national values, which emphasise equality, inclusion, and justice (usually by retribution). War Flag Since its wars against the "buriers of the north", the Socialist Republic of Ardesch designed another flag as its war banner. It was based on the flag of an all-male community of heretics, out of sympathy for their fellow deviants who were executed and sacrificed in peat bogs to the Maardau gods. The black background symbolizes mourning; the red fork for vengeance and blood, yellow for revolutionary zeal, green for hope and justice, and blue for “the restlessness of the souls of the sacrificed dead”. The fork-like shapes of the bars represent dragons, who in turn symbolize Ardesch’s subversion of “heretics” into its avenging heroes. As west is considered as the direction of death in Ardeschen culture, its direction as the forks’ orientation represents their ruthless willingness to protect the “deviants” of the world from persecution and murder. That meaning is later interpreted as hatred of the Gauvajut Empire for its “bigotry” (who in turn hates Ardesch for “forcing its deviant ways to the world”.), and then as physical war against all forms of bigotry in existence. This flag became the basis for the flag of the Eastern Enclaves, one of its supporters. History Early years During the latter years of the Sixteenth Age, Ardesch was transformed from an arrogant empire wallowing in its advancements to a battlefield between dozens of city-states that emerged from a government crisis. That civil war that took the lives of 70 percent of Ardesch's population led to the rise of a charismatic leader, who styled himself as "The Grand Director". Taking advantage of the fear that their southern Scenarian neighbours would invade them, he unified the broken factions to resist the Scenarians, before embarking on a campaign of sabotage and conquest against the countries of the north to build an empire to challenge the repeated assaults from Scenarium and the global superpower of Tukshara. To enforce obedience throughout his empire, the Grand Director sentenced all of his opponents to hard labour, mostly in dire, slave-like conditions to humiliate them like his rivals did. After Marnoxai and Rannar aided their ally of Prydain, their defeat of Scenarium's empire caused Ardesch to wage war against its rival Zarijana, until the Grand Director died of a heart attack. His successor directed his wars southwards to rebuild his empire's economy and join a space race, but one of his officers executed him and liberalised the country to develop it further. When an economic crash turned the disgruntled Ardeschen against the Third Director, a militant group used this to overthrow and execute him before taking over the government. Those militants, known as the Red Tide, initially sought to alleviate their people's alleviating poverty by granting independence to about a dozen nations that Ardesch conquered. But as soon as they were free, some of those nations in the north decided to execute hundreds of suspected "deviants" and "heretics" -- and the most infuriating incidents that sparked more waves of Ardeschii military strikes involved ritually burying suspected athiests and homosexuals alive in peat bogs. The rulers of Red Ardesch then sought the support of two rising communistic empires in the far west over the northern ice wastes, Red Darros and East Tukshara, so for a while they emulated the two regimes. When the Chairperson of Red Darros noticed that Red Ardesch's policies were not in line with his (such as the tolerance of recent private businesses and the promotion of homosexuals), she broke off relations with Red Ardesch, and East Tukshara's continued support for the latter split it from her regime. Secessions Irritated by their government’s ever-increasing restrictions, dozens of eastern provinces rebel to create the Republic of Pure Lotharesch, where they execute hundreds of "race traitors" and "deviants". In another fit of rage, the Ardeschi rulers waged war against the breakaway realm, trying but failing to kill its reform-minded dictator for his ties with the previous regime. As they noticed the rebel leader being supported by his allies in Zarijana and the countries of Darros, they turned their forces eastward to bombard and raid their cities in a roaring rampage of vengeance. The bereaved inhabitants of those ruined settlements along the Darroskei coast turned to the protection of another empire — the Slavonian Brotherhood — and with it they fought back against the Ardeschi attackers and their Reddist allies in the northeast. Lotharesch was not the only realm that tried to secede from Red Ardesch. Other than the southern and eastern provinces, parts of the western coasts revolted to create their own nations: the Republic of West Ardesch and the Liberos Coast, known respectively as "Green Ardesch" and "Black Ardesch" after the colours of their flags. West Ardesch was established by dissidents who sought social justice under a true democracy, while Liberos was founded by absolute-free-speech advocates and anarchists who emulated the pirate-ruled Libran Isles off the eastern Gauvajut coast. Both of them fought bloody wars for their independence, and support for those two realms wrenched the western provinces out of the Ardeschi government's control. With them went Azedros (Pelarin) and adjacent realms, who also threw out their Ardeschi rulers in swift and unpredictable revolts. To add salt to Ardesch's wounds, an educational film about a society that oppresses heterosexuals triggers international outrage against Ardesch, fearing that Ardesch might impose the same conditions towards them and doom humanity to extinction or the wrath of their Gods. Also, a certain Ardeschi scientist flees arrest to the Gauvajut Empire, where his R-Pill (a modification of a recreational drug) was spread and used throughout the world by governments to "cure" non-heterosexuals. Decline After fuelling its furious campaigns, the economy of Ardesch broke down, plunging its millions of irritable inhabitants once more into poverty. Although this allowed its enemies to quickly seize its eastern territories, they were stopped once the Cyber Youth took power. Under the Cyber Youth, the economy slowly recovered, and with the newer technologies grudgingly accepted as gifts from Zarijana and the SB, it advanced into another space race. It, in turn, was overthrown by the Anti-theists, who outlawed religion due to the Utopianist cults sabotaging their society from the restive southeast, triggering waves of religious refugees who fled to the dissident republics of the west. Due to renewed tensions and protests against waves of “hate crimes” (less to do with hate, as they were more likely rebellions), the Ardeschi government became more hostile against the outside world to protect accused “deviants” from persecution, waging wars against several dictatorships elsewhere to forcibly end whatever offensive policies its leaders view as "bigotry". Through a naval invasion of a duchy at the Paharal Jungles, Ardesch also gained a new enemy over the ocean to the west: the Gauvajut Empire, whose prime minister Pahhurkas was embittered by an incident when a drunk Ardeschi activist threw bottles at him. This ancient civilisation was outraged by Ardesch’s retributive laws, its deviant society, and its belligerent campaigns, that its people revile it as “a land of dragons and demons” and mistreat Ardeschi dissidents as though all of them were as heretical as the government that they opposed. While wars raged in nearby lands, Ardesch opened its borders to waves of refugees and migrants, but most of them refused to assimilate and cooperate with the rest of its people's society. It was taken over by the Technocrats, who ordered the implementation of a micro-chip system to deter crime and bigotry with just a simple electrocution. The chip system infuriated the Utopianists so greatly, that they launched more attacks against Ardesch and its now-diverse citizenry. Copies of the micro-chip were spread throughout the land with nanites in the rainwater, and they quickly resolved their crime problem within three nights by making their subjects more docile. Some even had cybernetic parts growing within their bodies, as they sought to “perfect” themselves using more and more of their government’s implants, and it caused yet another civil war that hastened Ardesch’s downfall. Others modified their bodies to make them more androgynous to celebrate their "rejection of gender", to the outrage of several foreign countries. Eventually with the help of its hacker teams, the Utopianist cultists took over its capital and waged a war of extermination against its half-mechanised people. This triggered westward waves of Ardeschi refugees fleeing from the Utopianists’ genocide and the rogue automatons that emerged from their killers’ chaos. Some of those nations refused them, a few shot them on sight, and most (like their Gauvajut enemies, after Pahhurkas’ convincing) grudgingly accepted them: either way, many of those realms hated them more for their leaders’ policies. Legacy Although the First Republic of Ardesch had good intentions — to ensure justice for the oppressed and the downtrodden, or to eliminate crime and enforce harmony — how its successive governments interpreted those intentions stained their legacy in the records of the present. While the restored Ardesch is currently a decent realm, its name was invoked as a warning among the nations of Jerde and a spectre to be avoided, lest they become fanatical in an obsessive quest for justice. Its supporters -- associated with its worst deeds and its excessive progressivism -- were mocked to this day in folk myths and festivals as caricatured goblins and ghosts, joining forces with other legendary monsters in parades to attack the living and plunge society into chaos. It became a thousands-years-old ghost that plagues the modern Ardeschen nation's reputation to this day: many dislike it for its unacceptable policies (to their beliefs) and fear that it might one day try to rule the world with an iron fist, while those outcasts that it would have protected celebrate it in a smaller scale to avoid attacks. Its birthday -- an anniversary of a revolt against an earlier conformist society and once a celebration of relentless progress -- is now Jerde's equivalent of Walpurgis Night and Halloween, "honoured" instead by mocking songs and burning effigies symbolising its past misdeeds. Some paranoid societies even went as far as view the words "politeness" or "being a nice person" (especially when applied to those protected by Red Ardesch) as euphemisms for "submit to Ardeschi rule", and therefore banned the word and the concept itself from their societies. In their leaders' rage, they have instead advocated rudeness, more cruelty, and total war as their form of resistance to anything perceived to be "Ardeschi": examples included the Jauparturnid Dynasty and their successors, the Wannaenid Empire. Sometimes, they even tried to become "beyond human" out of their hatred of Red Ardesch's concept of "humanity", that they ironically tried to replace their own human bodies with cybernetic implants. Government Throughout its existence, Ardesch's government was a single-party state, ruled by a Chairman or a President selected among several other candidates within the Grand Party. The Chairman or President ruled for one term of only five years, although a few exceptions ruled for decades as military commanders. Until the coming of the Cyber-Youth, all other political parties were banned, but when they were permitted they were required to be obedient to the Great Party to "prevent reactionary, capitalist, and oppressive actions". In spite of this, four successive factions ruled Ardeschi society: the Red Tide, the Cyber-Youth, the Anti-theists, and the Technocrats. * The Red Tide emphasised more on diversity and inclusion, and bringing justice to the oppressed by any means necessary; * the Cyber-Youth was more focused on technological innovation and reform; * the Anti-theists sought to destroy all religion, spirituality, and bigotry as "poisons to humanity", and to continue the mission of the Red Tide to the whole world; * and the Technocrats used the high rates of crime in their time to justify forcibly and instantly "advancing" humanity into a race of cyborgs, without any form of distinction to divide them. Economy In its earlier years, Ardesch's government tried to enact a centrally-planned socialist economy, emulating Red Darros' pattern for a while until it rescinded as they noticed on how their role model treated its minorities and its allies. From that time on, it tolerated cooperatives and smaller private businesses, which were taken over by the government when they grew too large. Ardesch's economy transitioned from agricultural and industrial to a technologically-based society: while Red Darros collapsed because of its slow innovation, Ardesch was able to catch up with East Tukshara as it embraced technological advancement, until it was almost about to outpace Rannar and the Tuksharan Empire as the third most powerful on Jerde. Major economic decisions in Red Ardesch were determined within five-year cycles that continued until the country's destruction. During the Red Tide's rule, heterosexual Ardeschis of native descent were required to pay an extra tax that was paid to assist minority citizens, or that was donated to former Ardeschen colonies to help their economies rebuild. Society Ardeschi society was meant to be revolutionary and inclusive, and most importantly to exact justice for the oppressed. It ran in six principles: * equality, * accountability, * everlasting inclusivity, * equity, * retribution, * and (social) justice. In later times, the fifth value is replaced by innovation (further research on technology or re-applying rediscovered archaeotech), or permanent revolution in the sole case of the Anti-theists (militarising their society to "liberate"/wage war against bigotry and religion across the world). Anything perceived to be "supportive of tradition" was considered as "oppressive" in Red Ardesch, such as traditions based on the male-female division (such as knights fighting dragons to save princesses, or depictions of males as warriors and females as servants), ancient literature, and hymns to ancient gods. During the time of the Red Tide, suspected "supporters of tradition" were banished to secluded towns, jailed, fined, or put to labour camps, but since the Cyber Youth took power, many of those harsh punishments were abolished as some "traditions" were tolerated. Treatment of non-heterosexuals Ardesch was known for being the only nation during its time where non-heterosexuals (known elsewhere as "deviants" for their behaviour and desires) were regarded as national treasures, whereas the most that dozens of other realms did for them was tolerance and a degree of promotion at best. Therefore, they were not only being treated better than most of the populace, but Red Ardeschi culture even had traditions with days honouring them using colourful flags. Because of this, it became a refuge for non-heterosexuals everywhere: aside from its allies, many nations elsewhere reviled Red Ardesch as "the hated of the Gods". Anything to do with non-heterosexuals, and even their very existence, was henceforth associated by them with Red Ardesch and feared as "attempts to take over the world". However, Red Ardesch was among a handful of countries that recognised non-binary people (people who do not consider themselves male or female), although it had more to do with individuals rejecting gender restrictions instead of being based on a native Ardeschen tradition (unlike its allies). Contrary to popular fears, most non-binary Ardeschis did not intend to make all of humanity androgynous, nor did they want to force all of humanity to abolish the existence of gender. Public holidays Public holidays in Red Ardesch included: * New Year's Day (January 1, extended to three days on every five years), * Memorial of Directorist Atrocities (January 30, Red Tide rule), ** That day was celebrated during Directorist rule as an anniversary of their usurpation. * Technology Day/National Day (February 27, Cyber Youth and Technocrat rule), ** That day was the birthday of a scientist who improved faster-than-light travel. Abolished during the Anti-theists' rule, but reinstated as Red Ardesch's national day when the Technocrats too power. * Women's Day (March 8), ** That day was celebrated by giving gifts to women and romantic trips, replacing the fertility festival of Stavurcha (June 12) and its disgustingly abusive orgies. * Spring Equinox (March 21), * Day of Renunciation/War against Religion (April 14, Anti-theist rule), ** Commemorates the Utopianist terrorist attacks. Mass burnings of religious scriptures and idols were done on that day. * Labour Day/Socialism Day/Workers' Day (May 1), ** That day was celebrated by putting red banners around trees. * Memorial of Persecutions (May 18), ** That day, when a mass execution took place under the First Director, was selected as a memorial to all non-heterosexual Ardeschis who were persecuted during the Directorist regimes. * Summer Solstice (June 21), * Day of Renunciation/War against Religion (July 13, Anti-theist rule), ** Religious icons and objects were burned on that day, commemorates the invasion of Zarijana. Abolished during the rule of the Technocrats. * Day of the Flags/National Day/Revolution Day (June 28, Red Tide rule), ** Colourful and red flags were waved to honour Ardeschis of different sexual orientations and identities, the working class, and the Grand Party, respectively. That day was when the Red Tide overthrew and executed the Third Director, beginning Red Ardesch's existence. * Autumn Solstice-Purple Day (September 21-23), ** Formerly a festival held to celebrate birds. Purple flags were flown on that day. * Openness Day (October 11), ** That festival was held to celebrate non-heterosexual Ardeschis, especially those who "have renounced gender for freedom". Abolished during the Anti-theists' rule, used again during the Technocrats' rule. * All Souls' Day (October 20), ** Formerly a traditional festival held for the protection of the whole nation, under Red Ardesch it became a festival dedicated to people of different sexual orientations. Abolished during the Anti-theists' rule. * Winter Solstice (December 21) On Memorial Days, Ardeschis were required to wear black, and no entertainment was to be held on those days. Festivals that had been abolished by the time of the Utopianist conquest are crossed out. Miscellaneous The Red Tide government also instituted various laws that were considered "odd" or "extreme" by most other nations in its time, even its own allies: * Suspected "bigots" were barred from most legal jobs (except menial ones), and were banished to communities where they were isolated from the rest of society until they "repented" of their beliefs. People were also labelled as "bigots" for supporting Ardeschen traditions. * Freely welcoming former colonial subjects and immigrants from its allies to take up its then-growing amount of jobs to compensate for the slavery of the Ardeschen Empire and build its economy, while convincing native Ardeschis to become a minority in their own country as "justice". Red Ardesch was among the few nations on its time to do so, aside from (ironically to a lesser extent!) the Gauvajut Empire. * Many ancient and traditional Ardeschen arts were prohibited as "bigoted against minorities/women/the disabled", unless they could be subverted. Consequently, only two forms of art were allowed during the rule of the Red Tide: a stern style like that of Red Darroskei propaganda posters; and a curvy-lined, milky style for younger viewers. * Quotas were mandatory in various works of art and all businesses, so to ensure that women and minorities would at least have a job. * All families were required to have three adult partners of any gender in an open sexual relationship. Single people lived in workhouses, with fees and amenities provided by the government. * While the native Ardeschen religion was suppressed for being used by the Directorist regimes and the earlier emperors for keeping minorities disenfranchised, minority religions (like animist cults, esoteric belieds, Rifandian religions, Buddhism, and Trismegism) were legal. * Many words in the Ardeschen language were replaced to make them more "gender-neutral" and "inclusive". At first, there were severe penalties for using "oldspeech", but they were abolished due to the Red Tide's war against secessionists and Zarijana. * Ardesch should have "Ardesch''i''" instead of "Ardesch''en''" as its new, gender-neutral adjective. Many of those laws were abolished when the Cyber Youth took power, as the Cyber Youth sought better relations with other countries and to rebuild their country's war-exhausted economy. Trivia * This nation was inspired by: ** the Soviet Union (if it were partially-run by leftist Americans from the 2010s), ** East Germany (if it replaced the Soviet Union and became its own empire), ** the United States' attempts to bring democracy/"liberate" countries/stop communism by military invasion, ** the Soviets' war in Afghanistan and support for various communist guerillas worldwide, ** American leftist movements on Twitter and other websites, ** LGBT movements, ** the New Atheist movement and its members who pick fights with fundamentalists, ** and pop culture/Internet caricatures of communism, "social justice warriors", and "political correctness/the regressive left" by conservatives; what would had happened if they were more focused on taking revenge and becoming more powerful; and how conservative societies reacted to such attempted changes. * The author considered those latter movements and their activists as though they were trying to take over countries by altering society. ** Ultimately, this idea was derived from a story that the author planned to write in which a protester from Ardesch ("The Slug") attacked a Gauvajut diplomat. When the diplomat became Prime Minister, he tried to contact the protester, but the protester answered only with rude remarks glorying his country and cursing at the Gauvajut Empire. After being rejected by his fellows for his poor behaviour, the protester was killed while fighting a Utopianist invasion of his country. ** That, in turn, was inspired by the author's experiences in Yahoo Answers in 2016-2017, in which he got into fights with a white nationalist troll at the Other Cultures and Groups section who mostly answered with crude insults. ** Likewise, its hated enemies were inspired by other aggressive ideologies and extremists that the author encountered online, such as on Internet comments, news articles, and other historical states: *** Utopianist movement (Daesh/ISIS and similar terrorists in Western countries, with some influences from the New Age movement, hippies, or the worshippers of Khorne) *** Lotharesch (esoteric Nazism, Neo-Nazism), the Directorist regime that preceded it (Nazi Germany), and the Ardeschen Empire before them (German Empire, Belgian Empire, British Empire) *** Zarijanian Empire (homophobia, religious extremism and fundamentalism in the Middle East, with the persecutions of Christians in the Sassanid Empire by the fanatical priest Kartir) *** Maardau (volkisch paganism, supposed human sacrifice of homosexuals in ancient Germania) *** Kingdom of Rannar/Rannarisk Empire (white nationalism/supremacy, Neo-Nazism, Atomwaffen Division and similar terrorists) *** Slavonian Brotherhood (Slavic nationalism, far-right movements in Russia) *** Gauvajut Empire (isolationism by the Ming and Qing emperors of China and the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, paleoconservatism, religious fanaticism, xenophobia, conservatism and nationalism in India and Russia) * The war flag of Ardesch was partly inspired by the rainbow flag. * Once Red Ardesch's government was established, copyright was abolished as a "capitalist" waste. Technically, all Ardeschi artistic works then belonged to the government, and therefore its people, allowing anyone form anywhere to use (or steal) them freely (so long as they did not offend the fickle authorities). That was one of the few "benefits" of Red Ardesch to foreigners, if there were any. See also * Ardesch, for its modern descendant * Ioratin and Ajoltar, two modern nations with not-so-similar beliefs Category:Dictatorships Category:Empires Category:Sixteenth Age Category:Peculiar Rabydosverse nations Category:List of holidays Category:Lists of holidays Category:Dystopias